Operation Unleashed

by Justine Davis

  Her words echoed in his head. Did he dare hope she meant them, in the way he wanted her to mean them? The way he desperately needed her to mean them?

  The need rose in him again, and this time all his lecturing on letting her sleep was seared away. To his surprise, she woke quickly, responded eagerly, so eagerly it took his breath away. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had the idea that it was only because it was still dark enough, that if she realized how close it was to morning she might change. He redoubled his efforts; he wanted her too hot, too aroused, wanting this—and him—too much to even think about changing her mind. A few minutes later, when she practically begged him to finish it, he knew he’d succeeded.

  He hadn’t expected to be half out of his mind himself.

  When he slid into her slick, welcoming body, he knew he was too close, he’d pushed it too far. He wouldn’t be able to hold back, not long enough. Not the way she was responding to every stroke, not the way the pressure was building until he thought he would die from it.

  She wrapped her arms, then her legs around him, driving him deeper. And in that instant he heard her cry out, felt the first, fierce convulsion of her body around his. The sound of his name coming from her in that tone of hot, aroused wonder was his undoing, and he let himself follow her over the edge.

  When he woke up again, she was gone.

  He was berating himself for falling back asleep when she came out of the bathroom, showered and dressed. He sat up, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “You’re up,” he said, sounding inane even to himself.

  “Yes. It’s time to get Luke to school, and I want to be there early enough to find someone I trust on the staff to hand him off to.”

  “Sorry.” They’d discussed that last night. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, grabbed at his jeans. “And sorry I...crashed on you.”

  She smiled, a shy little smile that made his heart turn over in his chest. “It was worth it,” she said softly.

  Hope, pure and unadulterated, slammed through him.

  “It was, wasn’t it?” he said.

  “Yes. Even if things are...more confused now.”

  Confused? The hope wobbled. “I thought things were unconfused for the first time in three years.”

  She sighed. “You’re such a guy, Drew.”

  “Well, yes.”

  “We know each other so well, and yet not at all. Not in the way a normal couple together three years would know each other.”

  This was what he’d been afraid of, one of those morning-after analyses that ended up destroying everything.

  “Try me,” he said, an edge he couldn’t help creeping into his voice.

  “I just mean—”

  “I know your favorite color is green, you like your bacon crisp, you have a weakness for caramel, and you’ll read the back of a cereal box if that’s all that’s handy to read. I know you like to sit on the deck where you can smell those white flowers you planted, that you can instantly recognize the sound of an eagle’s call, and that you want to learn to knit someday.”

  About halfway through she was staring at him, a touch of surprise in her expression. Good, he thought, and charged on.

  “I know you worry about not getting enough exercise. I know you feel guilty about letting Luke have those cookies he loves. I know you’re the best mother I’ve ever seen.”

  “Drew—”

  “I know you have regrets about not finishing your education, but you wouldn’t trade having had Luke for anything. I know you wanted to be an artist, but decided you weren’t good enough. You were wrong, by the way. I still contend that.”

  “You’re shaming me, Drew,” she said softly.

  He stopped, startled by her choice of words. “What?”

  “I never realized. How much attention you paid.”

  “I may be ‘such a guy,’ as you put it, but I’m not blind.”

  “I only meant...thinking great sex was going to fix everything.”

  He blinked. Realized he was no doubt going to prove her point, but was unable to help himself. He grinned sheepishly. “But it was great.”

  For an instant she just stared at him. Then, to his immense relief, she smiled. That same, shy little smile that had tightened his chest moments ago. “Yes,” she said softly. “It was.”

  * * *

  She was having, Alyssa realized to her chagrin, trouble concentrating. Her mind kept slipping back to last night. She refused to second-guess her decision; she’d been clear-headed and thinking straight when she’d made it, and being uncertain how to feel about it now didn’t change that. Drew hadn’t been the instigator last night, she had. True, once she had opened the door he’d charged through like a thoroughbred from a starting gate, but she had opened the door. It never would have happened otherwise. She knew him well enough to know that.

  And he, amazingly, knew her better than she’d ever imagined.

  She’d been blown away by his little recitation this morning, and she still was. Knowing her favorite color and how she liked her bacon cooked, that was one thing, simple things anybody could pick up. But the other things...how had he known she still had wishful thoughts about being an artist? She hadn’t even tried since Luke had been born. The last thing she’d done was that nighttime painting of the Sound, with the dark hills of the land and the gleam of glassy water setting off the brilliantly lit ferry. She wondered where it was. Probably in ashes, along with everything else she’d left behind. Wasn’t her entire life in ashes, except for Luke?

  “No,” she said aloud to the empty room. Thanks to Drew, the answer was no. She had a life, a life many women would envy. A life she hadn’t appreciated nearly enough. What if Drew hadn’t been who he was? She would have gotten out of that hospital broke and weak, and ended up who knows where. And Luke. She would have lost Luke forever.

  And now, if Drew wasn’t the man he was, he might have decided they were both too much trouble. That they’d brought this mess into his life, and they could take it right back out again.

  But he was the man he was.

  And thanks to Drew, she would never, ever think of sex the same way again. With Doug, her pleasure had come from pleasing him. With Drew...

  With Drew he made her climb the walls, hungry with need. Made her a demanding, eager thing she barely recognized.

  Made her scream.

  She wished he was home right now.

  The images that played out in her head then had her up on her feet and pacing. She crossed the living room, then turned and walked back toward the kitchen, feeling she was going to fly apart at any second. She reached the opening to the kitchen and started to turn again, even knowing it was pointless, nothing was going to help her get this under control. Nothing—

  Cutter barked from behind her. She jumped. She still wasn’t quite used to having a dog around, although she had to admit he was remarkably well behaved. She turned to look at him. He was sitting by the front door, looking over his shoulder at her. He’d just been outside twenty minutes ago, so she didn’t think it was that.

  As she turned to walk back toward him, something caught her attention. The clock on the oven glowed quietly green at her. And she came back to earth with a thud. Luke. Luke was going to be out of school in five minutes, and it was going to take her ten to get there. Panicked, she grabbed up her keys and her phone, hitting her contact list as she did. Drew’s number came up first, and she dialed as she ran for her purse. He’d gone in to deal with some permits that had finally come through after months of bureaucratic delay.

  “Are you still at the office?”

  He seemed to pick up on the rushed note in her voice. “Yes, why?”

  She opened the door and walked as fast as she could for her car, Cutter at her heels. “I’m...running late. For Luke.”

  Without he
sitation he answered, “You want me to get him?” He was that crucial five minutes closer.

  “Can you just be there when he gets out? Then I’ll take him.”

  “On my way. You okay?”

  “Fine. Just...distracted.”

  There was a split-second’s pause, one she might not have noticed had it not been for the deep, husky note that had come into his voice when he said, “I think I like that.”

  The images slammed into her again, and by the time she disconnected, got Cutter in the car and actually got the car started her body was humming with the same crazy need he’d roused in her last night.

  The initial worry that no one would be there for Luke when he came out eased, she took a moment to call the school. Not that it was unusual for Drew to pick him up, but there were new people this year, and some might not know him on sight. The school was pretty careful, someone always waited with stragglers, but the current situation was hardly normal for Luke.

  She reached a familiar voice, Mrs. Martinelli, one of the school volunteers. She was a retired nurse who’d never had children of her own, and had been volunteering at the school for years.

  “Oh, that’s all right, Mrs. Kiley. Don’t rush. The kids are having a fine time. I’m told we have puppies visiting.”

  Cutter woofed softly from the backseat, as if he’d not only heard the word, but understood it. Alyssa laughed in spite of herself.

  “Oh, dear,” she said.

  “Yes, it’s been quite chaotic, but the children are running all over with them. You know little ones of all species love to play with each other.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said with another laugh. “My husband will be there first, though, I just wanted to let you know.”

  “Thank you. Always nice to have a good-looking man around.”

  The woman’s voice was teasing, but sincere. “Yes,” Alyssa said, those images of Drew still fluttering through her mind like overheated butterflies. “Yes, it is.”

  And Drew was there, as promised. Of course. She saw his car the moment she pulled into the parking lot. Cutter was on his feet, eager to see his little friend. And then the dog’s demeanor shifted, changed. He went from friendly, slightly goofy playmate to guard dog in an instant. A low, rumbling growl came from him as he stared toward the school. As she got out of the car it escalated into fierce snarl.

  Alyssa didn’t know why. But it was scaring her.

  He was staring toward the main school building. No, she thought, toward the playground.

  The empty playground. Hadn’t Mrs. Martinelli said the kids were playing? Were they inside with the puppies? It wasn’t raining, but—

  Movement caught her eye and she saw Drew running—not walking fast, not trotting, but flat-out running—toward her, and her heart leapt into her throat.

  She scrambled out of the car. Cutter, not waiting for his own door to be opened, wriggled between the front seats and jumped out after her. The dog took off toward the playground without a backward glance, and something about the intensity of his focus only heightened her dread.

  “Drew?”

  Her voice sounded tiny even to her as he came to an abrupt halt. He reached out for her, pulled her against him.

  “Oh, God,” she breathed.

  “Lyss,” he began, then stopped as if it was too hard to speak.

  “What? What is it?”

  She felt him shudder, and the thought of what that would take terrified her.

  “Drew, tell me!”

  “It’s Luke. He’s gone.”

  Chapter 26

  Drew held on to her, hating the way she was shaking in his arms. He tightened his arms around her, thinking she might fly apart if he didn’t. He didn’t blame her, he was about to go airborne himself. He forced his voice to calm as he explained.

  “He was with the kids on the playground. Something about puppies running loose. And then he wasn’t there.”

  “But I talked to Mrs. Martinelli not ten minutes ago!”

  “I know. She said so. She’s really upset.”

  “She’s upset?”

  “I know, I know. We have to find him. Damn it, I trusted them to keep him safe here.”

  “Maybe he’s just hiding somewhere. Playing.”

  She sounded desperate to believe a simpler answer, and he couldn’t blame her for that, either.

  “If so, then Cutter will find him,” he said.

  That seemed to help her get her panic under control. She nodded, and her voice was steadier as they headed after the dog.

  “What’s being done?”

  Glad she was thinking again, he said quickly, “There’s a sheriff’s deputy on the way. All the other kids are inside with adults. They’ll be interviewed, according to school protocol. I called Quinn. He’s on his way. And Liam.”

  “I forgot to tell him I was going,” she said. They usually checked with whoever was watching before they went anywhere, but it hadn’t been long enough to become an engrained habit yet, and being late had made her forget all but the essentials.

  “He figured it out.”

  “How did this happen?”

  “That,” he said grimly, “we are going to find out.”

  Cutter had headed onto the playground. He paused there, sniffing the ground, then lifting his head into the slight breeze. After a moment he took off at a steady trot, nose down, toward the far side of the playground. They followed quickly. The dog had more than proven himself, and if his abilities seemed a little uncanny, well, maybe that was exactly what they needed right now.

  Cutter’s raised tail brushed one of the empty swings as he passed, setting it moving, a sight Drew found oddly ominous. Seconds later the dog picked up speed, and then he dived into the thick hedge, clearly intent on something.

  Thinking it would just be a perfect capper to the day if Cutter had simply spotted an animal in the brush and was after it like any normal dog, Drew ran to the spot. Cutter was clawing at something in the juniper, just above the ground. Just as Drew got there, he came up with it and spun around.

  It was a shoe. A small, boy-sized shoe.

  He heard a muffled cry, looked up to see Alyssa standing there, staring at the shoe the dog held with her hand over her mouth as if to keep from screaming. Drew took the shoe from Cutter, who released it easily.

  The shoe looked all too familiar.

  Only when Cutter’s head came up sharply did Drew realize Quinn and Hayley had arrived, with Liam right behind them. Quinn paused to talk with the school personnel, but Hayley and Liam headed straight for them.

  “Cutter found this,” Drew said, dispensing with any niceties under the circumstances, “right there.”

  He gestured at the spot where Cutter still stood, looking as if he were about to explode into movement again, his intense gaze now fixed on Hayley as if awaiting orders. The dog hadn’t even gone to her, Drew realized vaguely. As if he somehow knew nothing was more important than the matter at hand, not even greeting his beloved mom.

  “You’re sure it’s Luke’s?” Hayley asked.

  “Yes.” Before she could point out they were at an elementary school and any kid could have lost it, he added, “The laces. Lyss did that to make it easier for him to learn to tie them himself.”

  He’d thought her nothing less than brilliant when he’d realized the reason behind what he’d at first thought odd. She’d divided the lace in half and colored one end blue with a marker, leaving the other end white. But when he saw how easily Luke learned to tie them, because the different colors made it so clear what went where, he’d congratulated her profusely on the idea.

  Staring at the shoe Hayley now held, Alyssa held her hand out to him, reaching. He took it, tugged her gently closer. When she leaned into him, obviously seeking support, he fel
t a burst of warm pleasure that she had turned to him, apparently instinctively. But she was clearly terrified, and he could feel it hovering over him as well, but he refused to let himself think of worst-case scenarios.

  “You were right. We should have pulled him out of school, kept him at home,” Alyssa said, her voice so tiny it ripped at him.

  “Never mind that now. We have to—”

  Cutter made an odd sound, a combination growl and yip that made them all look. The moment he had their attention he moved again, this time down the slight slope along the juniper hedge.

  “Trail doesn’t end here,” Liam said, and went after the dog. Past the hedge the dog turned and, nose still down, started along a narrow track through the trees. Barely even an animal path, they had to follow in single file to get through. Within a couple of minutes Cutter broke out of the trees and led them to a spot a few yards off the paved road below, where grass and brush were flattened in a telltale pattern. He cast around for a moment, then sat down and let out a heavy sigh, clearly indicating this was where the trail vanished. Even Drew figured that signal out.

  “Probably was a car parked here,” Liam said.

  Which meant Oliver could have taken Luke anywhere, Drew thought grimly.

  Liam took the dog and began searching the surrounding area, although from Cutter’s actions it didn’t seem promising.

  Drew knew Alyssa had to realize that, but instead of panicking again, she seemed to have a tighter grip on herself. No wailing and useless shrieking for her, he thought with no small amount of admiration.

  While Liam and Cutter searched, Drew and Alyssa went back to the school. Quinn approached them immediately.

  “You want the official version?”

  “I’d rather have yours,” Drew said shortly. “They’ll be covering their backside.”

  Quinn nodded. “Kids were playing, waiting for parents to arrive. One of them saw a puppy, over by the hedge. They all descended. Then another puppy over there.” he gestured toward the swing set further down. “And finally, one down there, near the service road. That’s the one—”